Elevator Confessions III The Last Straw
by PrairieLily
Summary: Jimmy, Lee, and Gibbs's team conspires repair the broken friendship between Ducky and Gibbs. 5 chapters, one posted daily. Second sequel to Elevator Confessions. Complete.
1. Enough is Enough

**Elevator Confessions III – The Last Straw**

**Disclaimer:** Not my characters, no infringement intended.

**Rating:** T for mild language

**Pairings:** Canon pairing of Jimmy and Lee portrayed, though this isn't a shipper fic

**Summary:** The team conspires repair the broken friendship between Ducky and Gibbs

**Author's Note:** This is obviously set in the fourth season, it's a second sequel to Elevator Confessions. Curious readers can find it by searching my profile. The first sequel, dealing with Ziva and Abby, is posted as a second chapter to the original story, which is about Tony and McGee. This one is my speculation on why Ducky and Gibbs are so pissy with eachother lately.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Enough is Enough**

Jimmy Palmer stared in extreme annoyance at the retreating back of his boss and mentor, Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, the older man leaving autopsy in the pissy huff that had become far too routine of late. The young man reached up and ran his hands through his loose dark curls in a frustrated gesture, counting to ten and summoning all of his patience to calm himself down.

Maybe he was still just a lowly assistant – granted he would someday be a real doctor, which would improve his rank and position drastically – but this whole situation with Gibbs and Dr. Mallard had gone too far, and it was beginning to affect how he was being treated on the job. Lowly assistant or not, Jimmy Palmer was nobody's whipping boy.

Jimmy sighed loudly in exasperation and sat down, pursing his lips slightly in thought. He looked up as he heard the doors open, and Special Agent Michelle Lee strolled in.

"Hey hon, that kiss for me?" she smiled. Jimmy glanced over her and grinned as best he could.

"Hey You. It could be, if you want." He smiled at her as she leaned in for the promised kiss. Jimmy smiled at her briefly as she pulled back, before his expression turned serious again.

"I was just thinking. Dr. Mallard is getting to be insufferably cranky these days. This feud or what ever the hell it is he's got going on with Gibbs has gone on for far too long. If I had a dollar for every time he's given me attitude lately I could pay off half of my student loans on the spot."

Michelle wheeled a stool over towards Jimmy, and braced herself by grasping the steel autopsy table with one hand, to keep herself from landing on the floor should the wheeled stool scoot out from under her. She delicately perched herself up onto it, and then reached over and draped an arm around Jimmy's waist, using him as an anchor to pull herself closer to him, and rested her head on his shoulder. She sighed softly as Jimmy gently draped his arm around her. Michelle smiled slightly as she became lost in thought for a moment. Finally, after a few seconds of contemplation, she spoke again.

"Ziva once told me that Gibbs, Tony and Tim locked her and Abby in the elevator once, when she first arrived. They weren't getting along very well and the guys had had enough of the dirty looks and the catfights. Well, not catfights exactly… but they came close once or twice."

Jimmy nodded. "I remember that. I also seem to remember once when Kate Todd suggested to Gibbs that they lock Tim and Tony up too. They weren't playing nice either, for awhile there. In fact I think that's where they got the idea to lock Ziva and Abby up so they'd iron out the wrinkles."

"Maybe we should talk to the others about this. We all love Ducky, Jimmy. I wasn't a member of Tony's team for long but I got close enough to Ducky to really care about him. I don't like seeing him so bitter all the time either." She closed her eyes briefly as Jimmy softly touched her forehead with a slightly lingering whisper of a kiss. He sighed, sounding tired, as he rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Oh, Michelle, you should try working with Dr. Mallard when he's like this. He's ornery and cranky and he's getting increasingly difficult to deal with. Normally I consider myself to be a patient man, but this is taking me to the limit. I wonder if Gibbs' team feels the same way."

"Well honey, I've pretty well caught up in legal for the day. I can leave early and join you in the squad room, if you'd like to run it by them." Michelle looked up at Jimmy with a mischievous smile.

Jimmy grinned genuinely for the first time in days. "It's a date, Sweets."


	2. Campfire

**Chapter 2 - Campfire**

"I am at the end of my chain," Ziva said, her breathy voice saturated with frustration. She swung her head in exasperation, and the guys knew their Israeli friend better than to question her mood. They, in fact, shared it. Tony, however, couldn't resist the urge to correct her malapropism.

"Rope, Ziva. The term is end of your rope."

Ziva glared at Tony, and then smiled. "If I live to be a hundred years old, I will never learn all of your Americanisms," she sighed. Tim looked up from his desk.

"Well Ziva, you're doing a lot better lately. Anyway, I for one consider it to be one of your charms." He grinned at her with a mischievous sparkle in his green eyes, turning only briefly to glance at Tony. The older man shook his head, wondering why their little boy had to go and grow up all of a sudden.

The three members of Gibbs' team looked up as they heard a husky, feminine muttering and an angry clomp clomp of heavy platform boots.

"You guys have GOT to do something about this," Abby stated. Her usual pigtails were done up this day in low slung braids, the black ropes in stark contrast to her pale complexion.

"Ducky and Gibbs are still feuding. If I have to listen to them call each other Agent Gibbs and Dr. Mallard one more time, I'm swear, I'm gonna snap!"

Abby stomped over to Tim's desk and perched herself on it, crossing her arms in front of herself angrily. Tony looked at her for a moment, and then after glancing around the squad room to make sure that Gibbs wasn't around, made an executive decision.

"Alright. Campfire," he said, gesturing them over to his desk. Tim gave him a tired glance, while Ziva rolled her eyes. She looked at Tim for help but he just shrugged and gestured her over to Tony's desk with a slight nod of the head.

Abby needed no further invitation, grabbing the hands of both Ziva and Tim and dragging them over to Tony's desk, wheeled desk chairs and all.

Tony was about to speak when the elevator doors opened.


	3. Gathering of Minds

**Chapter 3 – Gathering of Minds**

Jimmy and Michelle strode into the squad room, hand in hand. They weren't much of a secret anymore, since Tim had caught them in a compromising moment in autopsy several weeks prior. It somehow seemed to even the "caught with pants down" score between the two young men, and it had actually been a relief for Jimmy, to have resolved the stressful business of having to sneak around.

"Time out!" Abby cried. She ran over to the newcomers and grabbed them by the hands, dragging them over to Tony's desk.

"Guys, Dr. Mallard is getting to be an insufferable old crank. He's getting to be nearly impossible to work with. It's got to stop," Jimmy said. Michelle glanced up at him, and then turned her gaze to her former team mates.

"I don't really know Agent Gibbs but I can't imagine he's always been this bad," Michelle said.

Tony shook his head. "No, only since he's returned, and only when Ducky is around. They've been friends for well over a decade. And suddenly they're all formal and bitter. It's pissing all of us off. And it's creeping me out, frankly."

Abby looked at Ziva, her green eyes lighting up. Ziva seemed to read her friend's mind, as she smiled and nodded.

Tim and Tony's eyes met as well, and a memory of an incident that seemed a lifetime ago suddenly struck them both at the same time.

"So, we were thinking," Jimmy said, "what if we locked Gibbs and Dr. Mallard up in the elevator and waited for them to duke it out, settle their differences once and for all."

Jimmy raised an apprehensive eyebrow as three sets of green eyes, and one set of brown, suddenly bore into him. He was about to back up slightly when Tim spoke.

"Jimmy, or should we say… Black Lung, that's exactly what we were thinking too," Tim said mysteriously.

The young assistant medical examiner sighed heavily in relief. Now that they had the idea, all they needed was a plan of action. He stepped away briefly to commandeer two more vacant chairs, wheeling them over to the group that had gathered in a huddle. When he and Michelle had sat down, the conspiracy to have two old, trusted friends become trusted friends again, began to take shape.


	4. From Theory to Practice

**Chapter 4 – From Theory to Practice**

"Agent Gibbs," Ducky said tersely, his courtesy seeming forced as Gibbs stepped on to the elevator, joining Dr. Mallard on an uneasy ride.

Gibbs barely managed to acknowledge the older man. "Dr. Mallard," he replied, equally terse, and just as forced.

"I suppose you have a reason for visiting the lower level then," Ducky said.

Gibbs said nothing at first. Finally, he took an uneasy breath. "Just checking in on the progress of Gunnery Sergeant DeGraw's autopsy."

Ducky cleared his throat. "Yes, well I'm sure that Mr. Palmer is more than capable of filling you in on what you need to know. It was a very straightforward case, post-mortem wise. He did most of the work."

"Thank you, Dr. Mallard," Gibbs said evenly.

Then, the elevator jolted to a halt, and the lights went out.

* * *

Outside the halted elevator, several figures stood nervously.

Abby stood between Tony and Tim, grasping both of their arms in a desperate embrace, as if the success of the entire grand scheme was solely dependent on the three trusted friends holding each other up.

Michelle Lee stood, grasping Jimmy's hand in both of hers. She glanced up, surprised, as Director Shepard suddenly joined them.

"Stalled elevator, guys?" she asked, glancing curiously at the closed doors. Ziva looked at her guiltily. The Director smiled.

"Don't worry," Shepard said, "it won't stay stalled for long." The team trained their gazes on her, wondering if she had any idea at all what was going on there.

"Jethro and Ducky have been friends for far too long to let anything destroy their friendship permanently," she stated casually, but almost reassuringly, as if addressing a room full of nervous grade schoolers. "I know how stubborn Jethro can be, but he's loyal as the day as long."

"Um, Jen?" Tony asked suddenly. Once again, the Director smiled at the group, just before turning to walk away.

"Let me know when they're playing nice again. If it doesn't happen soon, I'm going to have to give them both detention." She winked at the shocked group as she sauntered away.


	5. Ducky and Jethro Once Again

**Chapter 5 – Ducky and Jethro Once Again**

"Agent Gibbs, I'm sure you can fix this. I know for a fact that you've manually stalled this elevator many times before. You use it as your own personal conference room." Ducky sounded tired and impatient.

"Dr. Mallard, I have no idea what's going on here. Believe me, if I had a choice I wouldn't be stuck here, in an elevator." Gibbs came close to rolling his eyes at the older man, as he stood, hands on his hips, glancing around for some kind of clue as to what went wrong.

"Oh, no, of course not Agent Gibbs. If it were up to you, you'd still be living on a beach in Mexico, working on your tan and drinking ale at the local cantina. Why you chose to return is beyond me."

Gibbs stopped his visual search of the elevator suddenly, and slowly brought his gaze down towards Ducky.

"Excuse me, _Doctor_ Mallard? I gather you don't want me back?"

"Well, whether you chose to return or not is none of my concern. I'm not at the mercy of the whims of the almighty Leroy Jethro Gibbs." It was perhaps the one of the first times that Ducky had actually vocalized the word "Jethro" since before Gibbs had left the team, several months prior.

"Just what the hell is that supposed to mean, Doctor?" Gibbs snapped. His blue eyes were darkening dangerously, his patience wearing thin and his temper reaching a point of no return.

"You know damned well what that means," Ducky sneered. "You didn't need to come back. Tony was quite capable handling his new role as team leader. He certainly never abandoned his team." He crossed his arms and glared disdainfully at his old friend, bitterness darkening his blue eyes. "And here all these years I thought that a marine never left a man behind. You left several behind, Agent Gibbs." Ducky also sounded as if he were reaching a boiling point.

Gibbs had suddenly had enough. His voice rose to an angry pitch as he tried to control his sudden fury. "I didn't abandon anyone, Doctor. I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't stand by and watch good men die, bound by the neck and strung up in nooses made of bureaucratic red tape, abandoned by armchair generals who didn't give a flying rat's ass about the smaller picture. So many things were out of my hands. I was disillusioned, damnit. You think I don't regret leaving? I know Tony was a good leader, that's why I left him in charge."

"Like hell you didn't abandon anyone," Ducky snapped.

Gibbs' face suddenly fell, his anger replaced by a shock of understanding.

"My God, Ducky," he said softly. "You think I abandoned you? Is that what all this has been about?"

Ducky's anger slowly abated. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"You didn't have to leave the country, Jethro. You could have stayed. I thought you trusted me, believed in me."

"Oh, Ducky, of course I do," Gibbs said with a sad sigh. "It's just… I just needed to get away. So many memories, things I tried to bury, it all came flooding back. It's not that I didn't want your help, I just…"

Ducky nodded. "Shannon and Kelly. Such a beautiful family. Kelly looked like you, you know." Gibbs closed his eyes, and swallowed hard, nodding at the painful memory of his little girl's face, reminding him that she did, indeed, look like him. Everytime he looked in the mirror lately, he saw her there in some way.

"I woke up and as far as I knew it was 1991. It was like I'd lost them all over again. I was overwhelmed, the memories, the grief, the anger, the need to avenge them, it was all so fresh, so raw, Ducky. Frankly, I wasn't ready to let anyone in, and after all of those good men died and I had to stand there in MTAC and watch it happen… it was just the final straw. I'd just had enough and I'm sorry if you think I didn't trust you. I just didn't think you needed to be saddled with all of my personal crap."

Ducky reached out and laid a comforting hand on Gibbs' arm. "Jethro, being saddled with each other's personal crap is what friends do. You didn't need to go off and hide in a dark corner to lick your wounds. You could have let me help you heal."

"I know that now, Duck." Gibbs looked down, and then brought his gaze back upwards to meet the old Doctor's eyes.

"Truce, Ducky?" he asked, a shockingly unfamiliar pleading expression in his crystal blue eyes.

Ducky seemed to take a moment to consider it. Finally, he nodded, reaching out his hand.

"I'm too old to be pissing off the friends I have left anyway, Jethro. And I suppose I really need to apologize to Mr. Palmer. I'm afraid I've been treating him dreadfully lately. He certainly didn't deserve any of it. He's been nothing but patient with me when God knows I wasn't worthy of it."

Gibbs reached out and took his old friend's hand, shaking it in an old-fashioned truce. "You suppose he had anything to do with this?" Gibbs asked, gesturing their surroundings with a shake of his head.

"Oh my, yes. Jimmy certainly, and I would venture to guess Agent Lee as well, if he is involved. Not to mention Abby and Timothy, certainly Tony and Ziva."

"I should have known what this was all about," Gibbs sighed. "I did it twice with my own team for pete's sake. They just gave me a taste of my own medicine, and I didn't even see it coming."

"You're slipping, Jethro," Ducky said, with a widening grin.

The two men began to chuckle heartily, and it was the only sound that came from the elevator as the lights suddenly came back on and the doors slid open, revealing half a dozen smiling, relieved faces.

They all glanced over en masse as the Director strode by.

"Told ya so," she said with a wink, never missing a step as she ascended the steps to her office and disappeared behind the door.


End file.
